Strings

by naturalbornderpy

Chapter 24: The Game Part Three

Something warm and wet was falling from her eyes and Luna didn’t notice.
                
After Discord had turned the alicorn’s head in far too great a distance, he snapped himself away, letting the limp remains of Twilight Sparkle come crashing to the ground. Applejack was the first to reach her and turn her over, a leg still wrapped around her injured stomach. Even from that distance Luna could hear the mare’s incomprehensible moans. Already she was trying to shake her awake. Already she was crying beside her.
                
The dark alicorn had stopped the charge over and hadn’t even realized it. On numb legs she stumbled the rest of the way, a light airiness finding her thoughts—something she would relate to being in the world of dreams. If only she could fool herself into thinking this was just another one of them, only the very Princess of the night knew better.
                
“No! No, no, no, no.”

Rainbow Dash and the rest came to a sudden halt near the body. While most only peered at it with muted horror, Fluttershy turned away before openly weeping into Rarity’s outstretched legs. When the oddly still eyes of Twilight became too much to bare, Luna closed them with a hoof. At least now she wouldn’t need to view this horrible scene any longer.

“Maybe now you’ll understand.”

A voice from behind them.
                
“You all need to end this tonight.”
                
Luna didn’t want to face that monster anymore. She was tired. She only wanted to mourn for her friend. But if she didn’t try—if she didn’t continue to try—than that same fate would only come to greet them all.
                
On weak legs she stood and faced the draconequus. He did not look pleased with his work.
                
He said emotionlessly, “There is only one way this ends, Princess: death. As I have just shown you.”
                
Luna closed her heavy eyes, another tear escaping one. “Then we will continue until we reach that conclusion—until my very last breath, Discord.” And even though every fiber of her being told her this fight had been lost some time ago, Luna lunged forward with an anguished cry. When Discord would finish with her, then that would leave the other six to his mercy. She thought they should know before the end that someone still fought for them all.
 

Twilight heard the snapping of a branch and felt a sudden roar of pain. Then the world went dark.
                
While Discord held her in his hands he had closed off her ability to teleport, possibly while holding her horn as he had. But that had happened a long time ago, hadn’t it?
                
The blackened void changed to one of mesmerizing white, and when that darkness faded so did any doubts or fears left inside her. From that world of despair and sorrows she had been released. She had been granted an early death and now she was being shown just what laid ahead for her.
                
But it was white and nothing else.
                
“This can’t be it,” she said, finding she indeed still had a voice in that new place, as well as a body that could move and step on its perfectly white floors. “There must be more to this.”
                
“And there is Twilight Sparkle,” said a voice in the white. “There is so much more.”
                
Out of nothing at all came Princess Celestia, her hair continually blowing in a wind of its own creation. She appeared as she always had before—tall, pristine, with that small smirk that would lead one to ponder everything she told them.
                
Twilight didn’t waste any time with asking why. She only knew she missed her mentor.
                
“Oh, Princess,” she almost moaned into her side as she embraced the far taller alicorn. “I’ve missed you so much. Equestria hasn’t been the same at all… things are so bad right now.”
                
Twilight pulled away and peered up, a cold dawning clouding her judgment. “This is just another trick from Discord, isn’t it? I should have thought of that sooner.” She viewed the expanse of white. “Although it is a good one, at that.”
                
Celestia shook her head gently. “Not this time, Twilight. I may not be real in the physical sense, but it is truly I, nonetheless. Back in the real Equestria, Discord murdered you. That is why you and I are now able to converse.”
                
Twilight lowered her head to what she would need to think of as the floor. As much as it hurt to hear she couldn’t deny the validity of her words. She had heard a delicate snap and felt a pain in her neck. Then she had ended up here. It didn’t take an academic to fit the pieces in their place.
                
“What’ll happen to the others? To my friends?”
                
Celestia looked away. “If Discord cannot be stopped, then the same fate with likely befall each of them. He’s become bent upon his own destruction—perhaps because over time his very identity has been warped.”
                
“Then why can’t he just do it himself?” she pleaded. “Why does he have to drag everyone down with him?”
                
“Because a being of chaos would never make it so simple.” She sighed. “I believe Discord has two parts to himself. One that sees what he’s been doing as being too wrong even for himself, and will therefore try to lead him down a path of self-destruction. Another part of him must work on the very basics of natural survival.” She regarded her student. “Discord may want an end to it all, but he will not make it easy. If no one can destroy him for good, then he will continue on until someone does.”
                
“But we’ve done everything we could!” Twilight said. “We beat his game! We fought back when we were pushed! By now he should have died a dozen deaths!”
                
Celestia pressed a tender hoof to her shoulder. “But Discord is no ordinary creature. Only stone will stop him for good, just as it has before.”
                
Twilight disagreed. “But the Elements of Harmony are gone. Even the ones I had been researching for so long only turned out to be a ploy created by Discord. I don’t know of any other way, Princess.”
                
Celestia answered, “But I do.”
 

The fresh taste of blood found her again. As she grimaced from pain she rose to her hooves, and came to a jerky stance. With just the mere flick of his hand Discord had flung the poor Princess of the Moon several yards away and into the hard and sharp wall of a fallen hedge. By the time she regained her balance, the draconequus was already approaching.
                
“This game is getting boring, Luna,” he said indifferently. “Even you must be getting bored. So end it. End it now.”
                
Minutes prior she had yelled for the others to leave the fallen maze, escape if they could. Not a single one of them budged from where they stood—circling the motionless body of Twilight. Luna would happily take the wrath from Discord as long as it was directed at her. She knew he could have ended this long ago with the simple snap of his fingers, but for other reasons he wanted this to last. Grind them all into dust.
                
“Until my last breath, Discord.”

Still gasping for air she came to greet him.
 

Celestia began hurrying her words. The Princess of the Sun that had graced all of Equestria over a year ago was nowhere to be found. Twilight discovered she was talking to a different Celestia than before—one that desperately wanted to move forward and fast.
                
The white alicorn continued, “When you and your friends first engaged with Discord in the maze, he was able to turn each of you against the other. When his game succeeded, the Elements of Harmony were then returned to you. But what happened when you tried to use them against him?”
                
Twilight shook her head, not fully understanding. “They didn’t work. We started the spell but nothing happened at all.”
                
“And why do you think that happened, Twilight?”
                
“Because my friends were different ponies at the time; our friendship wasn’t strong enough. Discord had corrupted them.”
                
“Exactly.” Celestia smiled. “It was not the Elements that failed you that day, Twilight. It was your own lack of friendship throughout the six of you.”
                
“So how will this help them now? They still don’t have the Elements.”
                
“I have studied different forms of power for the duration of my life—the Elements of Harmony included. The necklaces and crown that you and your friends wore was nothing but a symbol of the connection between you all. It was an instrument to will your combined power through; it was not the Elements that saved you on that day, Twilight, but your friendship. Anything could become a new Element of Harmony, as long as that spark is there, as long as that friendship remains.”
                
For a fleeting moment Twilight remembered the tiny pockets of joy she had had while the six of them crowded around in her old castle. The tension had been more than high for an unprecedented amount of the time, but that couldn’t stop her friends from being who they’ve always been. She had loved them years ago and it only took a few hours to learn those same feelings had never changed, even as time had moved on. Even the incredibly grating fact that Rainbow Dash leapt into the maze when she was repeatedly told not to, still caused her to fathom just how much they all cared for one another. Even when defeat must have seemed assured, they had followed her willingly to the end.
                
Twilight smiled at Celestia, before a shadow crossed her face. “But they won’t know what to do, Princess. The five of them won’t be able to summon the Elements if they don’t know they can.”
                
“But you do, Twilight.”
                
“But I’m of no more use.”
                
Celestia shook her head. “There is much you do not know about alicorns, Twilight. You have died but that doesn’t mean you cannot go back. Several years ago I, too, perished battling an ancient enemy while Luna had been banished. When I passed on, I met an alicorn above even myself. It told me it had a gift to give me—a single gift of life. Each alicorn is only able to do so a single time once they have passed on.”
                
“So why didn’t you come back when you died at the Empire?” Twilight blurted. “Why didn’t you just give that gift to yourself?”
                
“It does not work that way, Twilight. It can only be given away, and only a single time. That is the gift I want to give you today, if you will take it.”
                
Twilight shut her eyes. The atmosphere of the place was beyond anything she could have imagined. Every sense she could interpret only seemed to want more of whatever that place was made of. It was bliss, plain and simple. And now she was being asked to return to a land of blood and death—of monsters and pain. The quick thought of her friends was all it took.
                
“I will take your gift, Princess,” she answered her. “My friends are still waiting for me.”
                
Celestia beamed at her warmly. “I am glad, my faithful student. But there is one last question I must ask, before I grant you this gift. And only know that because you are here is it possible.”
                
“What is it, Princess?”
                 
Celestia paused. “It is whether or not you want to remain immortal, once you return.”
 

Rarity was ascending the creature’s back when he nimbly flicked her away with a single finger. She landed hard in the dirt, getting back to her hooves proving an ordeal.
                
Luna heard the approaching steps but could barely move her head to angle in his direction. He had knocked her from one end of that field to the other more times than she could remember. Again she had tried her magic on the beast, but he threw it aside as easy as confetti in the wind. She was reaching the end, she knew.
                
“You are disappointing me, Luna,” Discord called as he came closer. “I was expecting more. I was expecting more from a certain purple alicorn too, but beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.”
                
Picking her up by both forelegs, he held her beaten and bloodied body before him, almost as if admiring a painting that he had taken a shine to. With miserable eyes she glared at him—if he expected her to beg it was a wish he would never be granted.
                
“How… disappointing,” he said, sounding deflated himself.
                
For a few seconds Luna ignored her tormentor, rather choosing to focus on the still body of Twilight in the distance. Every one of her friends had joined in the fight some time ago, only to be hurriedly thrown from the battle. The only one that remained by her side had been Fluttershy, gently cradling one of her friend’s cold hooves in a pair of her own. The tears had dried sometime ago, and now the yellow mare only rocked where she sat. Luna could see her mouth moving but couldn’t hear a word. Was she singing a song to her fallen friend? The thought alone was enough to bring a smile to her face.
                
Discord caught her grin. “Why do you smile, Princess? Your victory should have come long ago.”
                
Luna forgot about the creature holding her in the air. Instead she watched as her lifeless ally first sat up before causing the pegasus holding her to scream. Luna didn’t waste anymore time.
                
With alert eyes she turned back to the draconequus. Then she spat a bloody wad onto his cheek.
 

It had been a gradual progression. Going from a sea of white to a sightless void of black and then finally to a murky gray. This last one she could recall vividly. It was that same overall feeling that had enveloped them all once her and her friends had entered the maze. And that could only mean one thing.
                
Twilight blinked in succession and was overwhelmed by every one of her senses betraying her in turn. Her sight was of pitch black sky. Both nostrils smelled of dried blood, as well did her mouth (only later would she realize how close she had come to nearly biting off her own tongue when she fell lifelessly to the ground). Next came her ability to hear, and it only brought her sounds of misery: heavy breathing, the cries of more than a few of her friends, and yet was someone singing? The last sense was that of pain, as bad as if a steel rod had been jammed through her neck. Overall it had been a stiff reawakening.
                
Still she sat up.
                
“Ow,” she mumbled, before she heard a quiet scream to her right.
                
A moment later a set of yellow legs wrapped around her sore side, squeezing relentlessly. What little air she had just by then sucked up escaped her like a punctured balloon.
                
“Oh Celestia you’re alive!” Fluttershy said incoherently, as her entire face enveloped her shoulder. “I thought you were gone and that there was nothing we could do oh please tell me you’re back oh please Twilight tell me your back and that you’re staying for good!”
                
Twilight absently rubbed a hoof along her friend’s mane. “It’s all right, Fluttershy. I’m back and I’m okay. Maybe another day I’ll explain how, but right now we need to deal with Discord.”
                
By that point more than a few of the others had made note of her return, so with tearstained eyes they approached her with widening amazement. When Pinkie Pie’s mouth nearly ran itself into the ground and she started forward for an embrace, Twilight stuck out a leg to keep her at bay. At the time she needed what little air she had.
                
“Twilight? What’s… how?” Rainbow began, before Twilight shushed her with a hoof.
                
“I don’t have time to explain right now,” she told them, a semi-circle already surrounding the mare, “but all I know is that we actually have a way of defeating Discord now.”
                
“Really?” Rarity asked. “But how? He’s done nothing but shrug off any attempt we’ve tried! He even killed you with his bare hands!”
                
“I know, Rarity. But that was when we had nothing to threaten him with. Without the Elements of Harmony, Discord’s near invincible with his magic. To even try and fight him tonight was foolish. Except now we have these!”
                
Twilight raised her purple tear-drop necklace—the shine of the moon extenuating it’s perfectly cut curves.
                
When she did, each of her friends looked at theirs in turn. Although most glances only came away with more apprehension than before.
                
“Beg pardon, dear?” Rarity exclaimed, as a slight twitch found one eye. “My last minute jewelry is about to save the day? I hadn’t realized I was under so much pressure.” She wheezed out a breath. “Or maybe your near death experience only gave you some weird ideas?”
                
Twilight shook her head. “No. This is it. But it’s not these necklaces that will destroy him—it’s what they represent. Friendship; a bond between us all. We were able to cast Discord to stone before because we harnessed our friendship through the Elements. Now we need to do the same, only through these.” She placed her necklace back down. “It’s not the tool that gives us that power; it’s only when our friendship is strong enough. And now it’s our only chance of ridding Equestria of that monster.”
                
A rough set of hooves pulled her attention away.
                
“That’s great and all, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed, a little too close to her face. “But I don’t think this new Discord’s just gonna stand around as we blast him to stone! Before he was cocky! Now he’s…” She thought. “I don’t even want to finish that sentence.”
                
Twilight put her head down, before an idea came to mind.
                
“There still might be a way,” she said.
 

Discord was talking to her again, but she couldn’t make out more than a few single words. He was rambling—the same topic as he had been going on about all night. At least when he spoke he wasn’t busily tossing her around. She hoped maybe Twilight and the others had made their escape. Perhaps they could find another way to finish him for good. If Luna could tangle with the monster until they were far away from the scene, she would at least be happy with her night’s ordeals.
                
If she could save them for a time that would be enough.
                
“Discord!” Twilight yelled.
                
No. No, why would they stay?

“Your fight is not only with her! Aren’t you forgetting about the rest of us?”
                
Twilight, what are you doing? The opportunity was yours! Why did you waste it?
                
The hand that had been gripping her horn and suspending her in the air opened without warning, sending the mare back to the ground. On rocky legs she stood, before she watched Discord turn his back to her. He had found the rest of them. And Twilight was in front.
 

Her gut had already felt like a barren wasteland of toxic materials, but when the draconequus turned to face them all, a new contraption of completely rusted parts began to spin mercilessly right in the very center of her.
                
Discord’s original expression of boredom and something else—sadness?—melted away as he saw she was alive. A new glow entered both pulsating eyes, like the reaction of some small filly opening a rare gift. His mouth curved into a grin.
                
“You’re not playing fair, Twilight Sparkle,” he said with near glee. He started over to them, not at all in a hurry. “There are no do-over’s in this game! What other tricks have you been hiding all along?”
                
Twilight ignored the foreboding figure, instead looking in the direction behind him. “Luna! If you still can, I need you to hold Discord in place! If you can, then we still have a chance of turning him to stone!”
                
A faint echo followed each word. When too much time passed without a word in answer, a new chill encased the alicorn. From her view she could not see behind the creature. Something dark blue had been close to the ground, but had it moved at all?
                
Discord halted his march. “Oh this I must observe! How is it you expect to perform such a trick, Princess? I don’t recall some secret stash of Elements left over in the bushes? This I just must see!”
                
Twilight remained silent. She turned first to her left and then to her right. All five of her friends surrounded her, a hard sheen of determination on each. It would be now or never again.
                
She told them quietly, “We might have to try it regardless if he can move. We’ll only have the one chance at this.”
                
Each one of her friends hastily nodded. She could tell a lot more than simple fear was coursing behind each set of eyes. Twilight had never loved them as much as then.
                
“I’m waiting!” the draconequus bellowed. “What are you—”
                
But that’s when his words dried in his throat and a pained expression filled his long face.
 

The last time Luna used such a technique had been centuries ago, when her foe had been a beast that could lull a pony to sleep by the simple blink of its eyes. While Celestia had attacked from the side, Luna had held it in place from behind. For the technique to work she would only need to place five contact points along its body, as well as use a large amount of magic and concentration. But if a single point were to slip, the enemy was able to move again.
                
All four of Discord’s limbs were held rigid by the Princesses hooves, curled tight with each muscle like piano wire. Her horn had always been the last contact point. As long as it graced a portion of the opponent’s neck or head, it still completed the ritual. But because matters had descended as they had—and because she felt very little pity for the creature she was holding at bay—she rammed her horn several inches into the back of his neck. She hoped he could taste its sharp tip on the back of his tongue.
                
“Arraahhh!”
                
With muted rage the draconequus froze where he stood, every inch of his long and slender body thrumming with fury. But as long as she retained each contact, he could not move from that spot—or move a single muscle if he wanted to.
                
“All you ponies are the same,” he irked out. “You all cheat.”
                
Instead of answering, Luna twisted the horn lodged in the back of his neck. A thin trickle of blood was already stinging one eye.
                
Already she could feel the tall creature trying to shake her loose. With what little strength she had left, she latched on tighter.
 

“Luna’s got him pinned! We have to do this now!”
                
Twilight hurriedly glanced at each friend. They all collectively nodded before they gathered in a circle.
                
“How do we… exactly do this again?” Applejack asked for the group. “It’s been awhile, and last time we actually had the Elements.”
                
“Just close your eyes and think of what we’ve all shared together,” Twilight said. “The past, the present, and whatever the future holds. It should be enough.”
                
Before Twilight shut her own eyes she found the worried faces of them all. She, too, couldn’t help but feel the same. Yet it all came down to that moment.
                
Only a few seconds later did she discover a warm pulse race across her chest.
 

As Twilight as her friends shut their eyes and the necklaces around their necks began to glow an eerie white, the draconequus she was wrapped around steadily ramped up his struggles to shake the Princess away.
                
A single hoof of hers almost came close to departing from his arm. Any moment now and she would break the fragile contact she held.
                
“You have not earned this world of my creation, Luna,” Discord said through barred teeth, still staring in the direction of the slowly ascending ponies.
                
“No,” Luna answered, with what little air remained to her. “Not yet. But in time I will.”
                
“After I am gone, my lie will only destroy what little sanity you still hold. Once Equestria knows the truth, chaos will cover all regardless of what you do.”
                
Luna drove her horn deeper, eliciting a choked moan from him. “Don’t believe you are the only one that can create lies that better this world, Discord. I will do what is necessary. Not because it is what I want, but because it is what my sister would have wanted for everyone. For her I will do this.”
                
“If you even get the chance!” he snarled.
                
The vibration of his body intensified and one of his arms jumped a few inches. Each one of Luna’s hooves felt as though an unseen force was trying to pull them away. But soon it would be over—soon this whole nightmare could come to a—
                
The Princess of the Night screamed like she never had before. Her right foreleg fell away from the arm of the beast and instantly a bone inside broke in two. Despite the pain she forced it back onto him and Discord only continued his motionless assault.
                
“Bit by bit, Luna,” he told her. “Bit by bloody bit.”
                
Luna closed her own eyes and thought of Twilight and her friends. Any moment now they would cast the creature to stone. It was up to her to hold him while they did. They were relying on her. All of Equestria was.
                
Discord shouted for them all to hear. “If you turn me to stone, you better break every last bit of me! I swear if you don’t, then I will find a way back and I will never stop until I suck the very last breath from your lungs!”
                
Vibrating along with the creature, Luna whispered into his ear, “You can’t count on it, you monster. I would have it no other way.”
                
Even through shut eyes Luna found a blinding white begging for her attention. She opened them, only to find the oddly dark back of Discord filling her view, as the rest of her vision was nothing but a wash of pulsating brightness.
                
The last thing Discord whispered was, “Chaos needs order,” before the laughter began.
                
Many a times had Luna heard the gentle chuckle of the draconequus as something interesting would nevertheless catch his fancy. That was not what she heard that night. Every giggle and every snicker and snort came out forced and exclaimed as loud as he could. Near the very end of it all, his laughter almost descended into a scream. The draconequus had no idea what was funny at all anymore.
                
Only as the wall of white reached its peak, did Discord cease his shrieks.
                
The thrumming object Luna had latched onto solidified entirely. With a grunt she removed her horn from its body and collapsed to the ground. She had never felt as tired as then.
                
As she heard the galloping of hooves, she closed her eyes and passed out.
 

Twilight had feared the worst when she came upon the still body of Luna. A few timid breaths later slated her worry. She retreated from her and regarded the large statue that had newly been created. Although the blinding white light had enveloped much of the area, she still had a sense of what Discord’s last image should have looked like, especially given the wails of his last laugh. But finally glimpsing him for the last time, Twilight was taken back by what she saw.
                
The tall creature almost looked scared—scared and unsure and virtually confused. If Twilight had not known of every heinous act that he had done—and all he was still planning on doing—she might have even pitied him. But not then. Not ever from that day.
                
Rainbow Dash approached her. “What do we do now, Twilight? You heard what he said. He said if we left him in there, he’d find a way back! You think that’s true?”
                
Twilight shook her head. “It doesn’t matter if it’s true. He needs to be destroyed for good. I don’t care if the chance of return is possible or not.” She thought. “I will do it. I only need time to think of a—”
                
“No,” a weary voice conjectured. “I will see that it is done.”
                
Twilight turned to find Luna awkwardly trying to stand straight. One of her legs had been unmistakably broken, so she limped ahead. Two of the mares helped her along.
                
“Are you sure, Princess? We can wait; I’m sure we have time.”
                
“I am positive, Twilight,” she answered bluntly. “I will only rest once this is done.”
                
Her two friends led her to the front of the statue. Luna closed her eyes and a small spark lit the tip of her horn. A small ball of purple energy shot from it, disappearing into the center of the solidified creature. Like falling sand did the statue crumble from within—the fine dust already blowing away in the breeze.
                
As much as she thought she might, Luna didn’t even look pleased by the action.
                
“So what happens now?” Rarity asked the rest. “How can anyone explain what happened to Discord?”
                
“I will tell them,” Luna said. “I will return to Canterlot—where I should have been all along—and I will tell them that love befell the draconequus.”
                
“You’re… you’re going to lie?” Twilight asked, a little off guard.
                
“I’m going to keep a lie going, Twilight,” she said arduously. “Discord’s lie might have been made from the blood and suffering of others but what it created cannot be shied away from. Another lie will let it continue.” She paused. “If the rest of Equestria believed in Celestia and Discord’s love as much as they claim to, then they could also be led to believe that Discord did not want to continue on without her. Maybe he left this world; maybe he did something else entirely. I will leave tales to weave themselves.” She turned to Twilight. “The only thing remaining is the charges against you. While I do not know at this moment what can be done about them, I believe in time we will be able to dispel such hearsay, while keeping a peaceful Equestria intact. But that means you must remain hidden until that is possible—and even that outcome I cannot guarantee for certain.”
                
Twilight lowered her head. “It is something I’m willing to do, Princess. It never should have been just about what I wanted in life. If it betters Equestria as a whole, then I’ll do what is necessary.” She viewed the collective group. “And if I know that you’ll all always be by my side, I think that’ll be enough.”
                
The others not keeping the Princess upright hurriedly embraced her before pulling away.
                
Twilight said to Luna, “I think the sun should be rising soon. Have you ever tried to move it before?”
                
“Once,” she answered reluctantly. “It wasn’t the smoothest of rotations, but I managed. I will see that it is done, Twilight. I will make good on my sister’s memory. I will do what she would have wanted, and not what I believe she would have.”
                
The group steadily made their way to the fallen entrance of the maze, most moving slowly and painfully from the battle. Twilight assisted Luna along, while the others trotted ahead.
                
“Luna, while I was gone I was given a choice,” she told her, “whether or not I wanted to keep my immortality.”
                
Luna was wise not to ask the other hundred questions she might have had. “And what did you decide?”
                
Twilight sighed. “I kept it. It was a gift, and soon I think I’ll understand it with more clarity. And who’s to say Discord was the last worry to be found in Equestria? In a hundred years time you and I will still be needed to stop whatever comes. As long as I have my friends for the here and now it should be enough.”
                
“I am proud of you, Twilight,” Luna said. “And although I don’t believe the memories of tonight will ever be cleansed from our minds, I am happy you chose to remain by my side. As a friend.”
                
Luna bowed her head and focused her horn.
                
A few minutes later the tip of the horizon filled with the golden shine of the sun.
 

“I still think we’re wasting our time, dear. We were already expected in the castle a few minutes ago.”
                
Rarity glanced around hurriedly, roughly toying with the curls in her mane.
                
Fluttershy approached the tall statue awkwardly, stopping to grind a hoof into the dirt of the Canterlot gardens.
                
“But…” she started weakly. “But doesn’t he look so sad like that? Don’t you just feel bad for him?”
                
Rarity said quickly, “Not really.”
                
“But he already looks like he’s sorry!”
                
“He looks the same as he did last month, Fluttershy. To my knowledge, statues don’t move all that much.”
                
“You think…” Fluttershy regarded her friend warily. “You think the Princesses would let him out for a little bit? Like just for some tea and sandwiches? I’m sure he’d be on his best behavior.”
                
“And then what would happen? Would that lead to a single sleepover and then a weekend away from his stony home? Fluttershy just listen to yourself, I mean—”
                
Rarity could tell she was making her friend upset. She stopped to wrap a leg around her.
                
“We can’t just forget what happened with Tirek and him. If we hadn’t have found a solution at the last minute two months ago, what would have happened to us? What would have happened to all of Equestria?” She sighed. “I know he’s your friend and all but he almost got everyone enslaved because he thought it sounded like fun. We can’t trust Discord. We never could and we were being silly to consider him our friend. Maybe in a thousand years a new batch of ponies can give it a try, but I truly don’t want to see him move ever again. I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but that’s just the way I feel about it.”
                
Fluttershy appeared downcast, then she pulled away to glare up at the stone draconequus again.
                
“What do you think he’s thinking about in there?” she asked, deflated. “I bet it’s about how sorry he is.”
                
“I guarantee you it’s something completely different,” Rarity huffed, pulling at her friend’s leg to lead her away. “Probably just another scheme to try and take over Equestria. Well, Discord can dream all he wants!”
                
Without another word the pair trotted towards the castle, where all their other friends must have been patiently waiting. A lone bird landed on Discord’s motionless shoulder and uttered a single call.

He heard that as well.